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Son of missing Lyle and Marie McCann says the waiting and guessing 'becomes all consuming'

Brett McCann, son of Lyle and Marie McCann, poses next to a billboard advertising a reward for the missing couple on Highway 16 west of Entwistle in Alberta on Friday, September 30, 2011. CODIE MCLACHLAN/EDMONTON SUN QMI AGENCY

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All the while, there’s a desperate need to stay busy — to feel like you are doing something, anything, to help find the loved ones who vanished without a trace.

Most of all, there’s the helpless heartache of not knowing, and the dark places your mind takes you, when you try to guess.

“Your mind does go there — you imagine all sorts of scenarios. We’re they kidnapped, are they being held somewhere,” said Bret McCann.

“It becomes all consuming.”

McCann has the misfortune of understanding just what a Calgary family is going through, as they cope with the sudden and baffling disappearance of two grandparents and their five-year-old grandson.

It’s been exactly four years since Bret’s parents, Lyle and Marie McCann, were last seen on a fuel stop in St. Albert while driving their motorhome to Chilliwack, B.C. for a camping vacation and visit with their daughter.

They never arrived and haven’t been seen since.

Their RV was found two days later, engulfed in flames in a campground near Edson. Six days after that, an SUV the McCann’s had been towing was found 30 km away — but there was still no sign of the senior citizens.

The mystery of their whereabouts changed their family’s life forever.

“That whole summer we just waited and held out hope they would be found,” said McCann.

“It took months before I could accept that they were gone.”

It’s assumed the McCanns were murdered, and police even made an arrest — but those charges were stayed, and the case remains unsolved.

“I told my parents at a candle light vigil we will never give up and four years later, we haven’t given up,” said McCann.

“We will never stop trying to find out what happened to them.”

If he has advice to share with the O’Brien family in Calgary, as they fret over the fate of little Nathan and his grandparents, it’s to brace themselves for the long haul.

“I don’t know if it will be helpful to them, but they have to realize it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” said McCann.

He talks about trying to stay busy, making posters, attending vigils and starting a Facebook page dedicated to his missing parents, as well as helping to establish a reward fund to help solve the crime.

In those first frantic first days and weeks, McCann says it was a matter of feeling useful and to know he doing everything possible for his parents.

“We reached out to the community in a lot of ways, and we felt a lot of support from the community — we were getting posters printed, and organizing things, and starting the Facebook page,” said McCann.

“We were very busy.”

Three days into the disappearance of Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents, Kathy and Alvin Liknes, it seems their devastated family is in a similar state, of wanting to do everything possible for their missing loved ones.

There’s been an emotion press conference, a tour of the Liknes home, and a new blog, nathankathyalvin.com, offering people a chance to send messages of condolences.

“As a young family with a five year old who spends many nights with his Grandma we just can’t fathom the senselessness of this crime,” reads a typical message, one of nearly 600 such sentiments posted by Thursday afternoon.

The mystery of who took the three and why they did it remains — but police at least say they are now making progress on the case, in which they say the three residents of the home were forced to leave.

Having reviewed CCTV footage and followed up on tips from the public, investigators now say the case is no longer a complete mystery.

“We have no suspects that we can name, but we do have information to move our investigation forward,” said Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus.